


From Hell

by ThayerKerbasy



Series: A Man and His Dog [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst and Feels, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Juliet POV, Pining, Set in the first half of season 9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 19:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8296919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThayerKerbasy/pseuds/ThayerKerbasy
Summary: Juliet is Crowley's devoted hellhound, but what happened to Juliet when the Winchesters kept Crowley locked away in a warded room?





	

Juliet was a good dog. She knew that because her master told her so the first time they met. She couldn't remember a time before her master. The day she came into being, he was there waiting for her. He picked her up, stroked her fur and scratched behind her ears, all while telling her what a good dog she was. It was a good day.

Most days after that were good too. Her master never got tired of playing fetch with her. He always had bones to throw and she would take off running to go fetch them for him. He always had words of praise for her whenever she brought the bone back and always a treat when they were done. When she grew big enough to shift to the material realm, her master would teleport bones for her to hunt. At first it was hard to track bones through the shadows, but she wanted to please her master, so she learned to fetch those too.

Some days, when her master was in a good mood, he would play tug of war with her. They started with a piece of cloth when she was a pup, but soon moved to tough leather. She wasn't sure what they played with now, but her master always made it strong enough to play with. Her wonderful master fought her for possession of the thing so fiercely; he was a strong master. When he decided they were done, he did something to the thing and then she was allowed to destroy it. Juliet had such a good master.

There were times when her master couldn't play with her. When she was small, she tried to stay with him, but he made it quite clear that there was to be no playing in what he called the throne room unless he called her there. When he was away, she was a sad dog. Sometimes she would go hunting shadows, but most of the time she curled up in her bed to wait. Her master had made a soft bed for her to rest in, but resting was lonely without her master. When he returned, she licked his face to remind him that she loved him, he scratched behind her ears, and everything was fine again.

The best days were the days when he asked her to hunt. With the wind in her fur and the scent of prey in her nose, Juliet felt like she was doing what she was made to do. She fed on the meat of her prey and grew big and strong. After a time, the other dogs seemed small. She wasn't sure when it had happened, but somehow she grew bigger than her littermates. Her master was so proud.

Then came a day when her master didn't come back. She waited and waited in her bed but he still didn't come back. When she had waited much longer than usual, she decided to go hunting for her master. She searched the places they played fetch, the places they went hunting, and the place where she was fed. She even poked her nose into the throne room, but her master was not there.

Then she remembered her training. She caught the newest scent from her master and followed it. Racing through the shadows to the material realm, she tracked her master's scent until it abruptly ended at a ruined church. His scent was strongest in the middle of the bad circle in the middle of the room – his blood was there too, but only a little bit – but his scent didn't leave. Without anything else to do, she circled the building and howled.

Night became day and then night again. Nobody came. Her master was gone.

She didn't know how long she had been there. Time was a human thing. She hunted, she ate, she slept, but mostly she mourned. She nearly didn't notice when someone new approached.

The body it wore was a human male, but bodies are clothing to demons and Juliet could sense beyond the flesh to the demon inside. It wasn't her demon. Her demon smelled like smoke and Scotch, but this demon smelled like blood and soot. Dejected, she lowered her head back down to her paws again. The new demon approached her cautiously, both hands spread wide at his sides to display his palms, all the while softly muttering, “Good dog. Nice dog. Just gonna take you back. Shouldn't stay here, nice big dog like you. Why don't you come on home with me? My name's Mack and I'll take good care of you.”

When he got too close, she growled. She was stronger and faster than any demon, larger than any other hound, and she didn't have to go anywhere without orders from her master. 

The demon stopped where he stood, but he didn't stop talking. “Crowley's gone. Abbadon's in charge now and if she finds out there's a hound out here not doing its job... I've seen what happens when she's disappointed. It'd be a shame to see a nice big hound like you get dead.”

He took another slow step forward and she growled again. “Look, I know you can understand me. I'll be right back.”

The demon left in the standard demon way, leaving behind the familiar sulphur smell that made her miss her master all over again. She resumed howling until the demon returned again a short while later, arms laden with meat and large bones. He again advanced cautiously until she growled, though she allowed him a little closer than before. When he stopped, heeding her warning, he set his burden down on the ground and backed away. “You must be hungry. Not much out here for a girl your size to eat.”

She sniffed the meat. There was nothing odd about it, no poison, no tampering, nothing suspicious. It smelled delicious.

She waited. It wasn't from her master and she hadn't hunted it. She stared at the demon, waiting for him to speak again. He tried to stare her down. He lost. “If you don't eat it, you'll get hungry. I can get more. I can bring you food, I can pet you and play the games you like. I can take you hunting. You just need to come back with me. Crowley's gone and Abaddon has no use for you. I could be your new master.”

No. She didn't need a new master. She advanced on him, growling and snarling, until he left – without the meat. After he was gone, she tasted his offering. Nothing strange, just meat. She ate. For the first time since her master left, her belly was full, but she still felt empty.

More days and nights passed and her master didn't come back. She wanted to lick up her master's blood so it couldn't be used against him, but it was inside the bad circle. Her master had taught her to always warn him about the bad circles. She paced around the edge of the circle and howled.

When the blood and soot demon returned he had more meat and more large bones. He set the meat on the ground in front of her, but held back the bones. It still smelled the same, so she ate. The demon silently watched her eat. When she was done, he held up a bone and said, “I thought you might wanna play. Wanna fetch?”

He threw the bone. She hesitated a moment, unsure. Would it be wrong to play fetch with someone who wasn't her master? The bone hit the ground with a thump and she dashed after it. The demon hadn't thrown it far, so the game was over far too quickly. She ran back with it in her mouth and dropped it at the demon's feet. He smiled, and only then did she remember that she didn't want to be friends. She backed away, snarling. He held up his hands and retreated a few steps. “Okay, okay, no need to be like that. We don't hafta play if you don't wanna.”

Why did things have to be so hard? She wanted to play, she wanted to be petted, and she wanted to hunt, but he wasn't her master. Teeth bared, she backed away to the edge of the circle where she lay down on the floor once more. The demon sighed and said, “Alright. But I'll be back in a few days to see if you've changed your mind.”

That night was harder. She howled half the night so even when she was quiet, nothing else dared make a sound. She spent the rest of the night staring at the abandoned bone in silence.

The next time the demon returned, he carried a hobbled sheep with a guide rope around its neck. He set it down and held it by the rope. “Thought you might want food you've gotta chase. Wanna hunt?”

She couldn't help it, her ears perked up. Everything near her ruined church had learned to fear her. Creatures had left the area, never to return. There was very little left to hunt. The fluffy thing was already making noises and pulling against the rope. She liked scared food. Her tail wagged without her permission.

The demon untied the rope binding it and the animal fled, clearly terrified. Juliet knew better than to chase right away. Nothing could run as far or as fast as she, so she waited. The demon frowned. “Aren't you gonna chase it?”

He had clearly never gone hunting before. She waited a little longer, then took off like a shot. The grass was long but it did nothing to hide the creature. She chased at an easy lope and savoured the smell of its fear. It was over all too soon. She caught it quickly and tore it open, eating while it was still hot inside. The fluff on the outside was no good to eat, but the inside was sweet and juicy.

When she had eaten her fill, she dragged the carcass back to her church so she could gnaw on the bones later. The demon was still there, smiling again. “There you are! You like it? I could get you more of those. If you come back with me, we can hunt all sorts of things.”

There it was again. She wasn't going anywhere. She didn't need a new master. Did she? Maybe her master was gone forever. Maybe nobody else would ever play with her again. This demon had brought her food and toys and had found her a hunt. She began to consider his offer. 

She wasn't ready to go anywhere yet, though. She dragged her scraps into the church and lay down with them so she could gnaw on the skull. From outside, the demon called, “I hope you'll change your mind, Juliet. I can't keep comin' back forever. Abaddon's gonna find you and then I won't be able to save you.”

He left then, the presence of sulphur dust and the absence of sound clearly announcing his disappearance. With the demon gone, the only sounds came from insects and from her teeth scraping on bone. She gnawed, and while she gnawed, she thought.

Her master was gone. He had been gone for a long time and he might never come back. What would happen to her if he never came back? Did she want to be alone forever? 

The moon moved through the sky until the sun returned and she was still no closer to a decision than before. She dragged the wooly remains of the carcass outside to attract scavengers that she might hunt.

The day dragged on. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn't throw a bone for herself. There was nothing to hunt and nobody to play with. She toyed with the idea of hunting shadows, but that made her think of the times when her master had gone to his throne room without her.

The shadows were long on the ground when she heard something. “Juliet? Come, Juliet, come to Daddy.”

All of a sudden she could sense him. Without conscious decision, she turned to face the proper direction and leapt into the nearest shadow, leaving the material realm behind. Somehow, after so long, she was drawn unerringly towards the warm, familiar presence she had thought was gone forever.

The first thing she saw at her destination was her beloved master. On a subconscious level, she noted the walls around them, the dead thing on the floor, the other demons in the room, but nothing was as important as her master. She wanted so badly to run to him, lick him, show him how much she missed him, but he was being attacked.

She had been trained for exactly this. A quick assessment showed her master grappling with one, and a second one holding a knife, unopposed and about to stab her master from behind. Growling low in her throat, she leapt into the fray and ripped apart the knife arm of the second one, savouring his screams. He never even had a chance to fight back. She had her jaws clamped over his jugular and her claws deep in his chest by the time the knife hit the floor. His screams became a wet gurgle and his one good hand feebly pawed at her, unable to even try to push her away. His blood flowed over her tongue, rich and sweet, and his body stilled. It was tempting to continue her feast – it had been so long since she had hunted proper prey – but her master was unarmed and still wrestling with the other demon.

Mid-leap the other demon's scent hit her nose; blood and soot. The features were the same as well, even under the suit of flesh. The demon fighting her master had brought her meat, had played with her and brought her a hunt. He had been kind when she had been alone.

Juliet hesitated a quarter of a second before tearing his throat out.

He never had a chance to protest, his voice was gone. He reached up with one trembling hand. At first she thought he was trying to push her away like the first one, but he only placed his hand atop her head, fingers twitching. He was trying to scratch behind her ear.

Her jaws effortlessly snapped through his vertebrae. The hand on her head fell to the floor.

Three demons were cooling meat on the floor and her master was alive, cooing nonsense words of affection. A hand scratched behind her ears and this time she allowed it. Her heart felt full.

**Author's Note:**

> This is an entry for October's Spn Coldest Hits. Please see this post for details. http://spncoldesthits.tumblr.com/post/151108898700/octobers-prompt-posting-dates-15-17-of-october
> 
> Without being at all familiar with the plot, this fic is named after the 2001 horror movie "From Hell".
> 
> And yes, I'm apparently still incapable of writing a crack fic for these challenges.
> 
> Edit: Through some bizarre twist of fate, I won this month's challenge. Thank you to everyone who refrained from reading, commenting or leaving kudos until after the competition. You're now free to do all three, and please do. Spam comments have been deleted for the benefit of readers (though coherent sentences actually relating to the fic have been left intact, no matter how long the comment chain). Due to the nature of next month's competition, you can expect a sequel to this fic.


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